Marijuana is the everyman drug. Teenagers surreptitiously toke on it, politicians refuse to inhale it, even your mum and dad have had a go. Marijuana is a mellow, let's put on a Barry Manilow CD, open a bottle of vino and order a pizza drug. It's the easy drug. The no howling at the moon drug. No shooting up and losing your job. The Marijuana Chronicles presents 17 tales of the weird, wonderful and just plain stoned from some of the coolest most chilled out writers around. From drug busts to recipes, this is the stoner's definitive literary bible.

“A gem” of a collection of marijuana stories, poems and artwork by Joyce Carol Oates, Lee Child, Linda Yablonsky, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, and others (New York Journal of Books). It’s known by many names: Pot. Grass. Hash. Hemp. Reefer. Ganja. Dope. Weed. Smoke. Spliff. Mary Jane. Tea. Blunt. And it has played just as many parts in the mind of the public, from Reefer Madness to medical marijuana. Here is a collection of new works as diverse and provocative as the drug itself. From Joyce Carol Oates’s “High” to Dean Haspiel’s “Cannibal Sativa”; from Maggie Estep’s “Zombie Hookers of Hudson” to Philip Spitzer’s “Tips for the Pot-Smoking Traveler,” this collection explores the drug in its many forms and varietals. In prose, pictures, stories, and poems, you can delve into the folklore and the facts, rich cultural history, and dramas personal, political, spiritual, and legal. Like Dave Chappelle says: “Hey, hey, hey. Smoke weed every day.”

In this book the author, an investigative journalist, traces the social history of marijuana from its origins to its emergence in the 1960s as a defining force in an ongoing culture war. He describes how the illicit marijuana subculture overcame government opposition and morphed into a multibillion-dollar industry. In 1996, Californians voted to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes. Similar laws have followed in several other states, but not without antagonistic responses from federal, state, and local law enforcement. The author draws attention to underreported scientific breakthroughs that are reshaping the therapeutic landscape: medical researchers have developed promising treatments for cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, diabetes, chronic pain, and many other conditions that are beyond the reach of conventional cures. This book is an examination of the medical, recreational, scientific, and economic dimensions of the world's most controversial plant.

An “addictive volume” of amphetamine stories from William T. Vollmann, Sherman Alexie, and more (Publishers Weekly). Speed is the most American of drugs: twice the productivity at half the cost, and equal opportunity for all. It has reinvented itself many times, from miracle cure to biker-gang scourge and everything in between. It goes by many names: crystal meth, amphetamines, Dexedrine, Benzedrine, Adderall; crank, spizz, chickenscratch, oblivious marching powder, the go-fast. And it crosses all ethnicities, genders, and geographies—from immigrants and heartlanders punching double factory shifts to clandestine border warlords; prostitutes to housewives; Hollywood celebs to the poorest Indian on the rez—and they all have plenty of stories. Here is the first contemporary collection of new short fiction dealing with the drug from an array of today’s most compelling authors. The elements of crime and tweaking, bleary-eyed zombies exist alongside heart-wrenching narratives of everyday people, the American Dream going up in flames, and even some accounts of pure joy. Featuring brand-new stories by: Sherman Alexie, William T. Vollmann, James Franco, Megan Abbott, Jerry Stahl, Beth Lisick, Jess Walter, Scott Phillips, James Greer, Tao Lin, Joseph Mattson, Natalie Diaz, Kenji Jasper, and Rose Bunch.

Early in the morning of September 5, 2002, camouflaged and heavily armed Drug Enforcement Administration agents descended on a terraced marijuana garden. The DEA raid on the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana, a sanctuary for severely ill patients who were using marijuana as medicine, is the riveting opening scene in Weed Land, an up-close journalistic narrative that chronicles a transformative epoch for marijuana in America. From the 1996 passage of California’s Proposition 215, the nation’s first medical marijuana law, through law enforcement raids, clinical studies that revealed medical benefits for cannabis, and the emergence of a lucrative cannabis industry, Weed Land reveals the changing political, legal, economic, and social dynamics around pot. Peter Hecht, an award-winning journalist from The Sacramento Bee, offers an independent, meticulously reported account of the clashes and contradictions of a burgeoning California cannabis culture that stoked pot liberalization across the country.

If You Simply Want to Know the Basics of Today's Cannabis Landscape... One of the most popular topics of discussion and debate today is the use of cannabis. In recent years we have seen the expansion of the availability of both medical and recreational cannabis across the United States and, like many adults, you are probably curious about what cannabis is and isn't. Is cannabis the same thing as marijuana? Are marijuana and hemp the same plant? Can you really use cannabis and not get high? What are the possible health benefits of cannabis? How is it responsibly consumed? What should I tell my kids about cannabis? What's fact, what's fiction, and what's simply a cliche? These and other questions are addressed in Cannabis Essentials: A Field Guide for the Curious. In a clear, brief, and objective format, author Rob Mejia will help you to learn the basics needed to navigate this ever changing landscape. Mejia has spent the last five years listening to and learning from the many diverse voices involved in the world of cannabis--from dispensary owners and budtenders to medical patients, growers who happen to be nuns, cannabis chefs, hemp oil producers, journalists, and more. Their personal and illuminating stories, featured throughout the book, bring the discussion about cannabis to life-- and you will never again think of cannabis in the same way. Cannabis Essentials: A Field Guide for the Curious is your own personal cannabis concierge to help you explore this new world of opportunity and possibility. Among the many topics covered, it will guide you through: Why cannabis was vilified and became essentially illegal in the US in 1937 when it had been accepted medicine for centuries How other parts of the world are embracing cannabis Why the use of cannabis is a social justice/racial justice issue and what we can do about it What medical conditions respond best to cannabis and why cannabis medical research in the US is severely hampered How to visit a dispensary and how to find the cannabis strain that works best for you What are the many ways that cannabis can be responsibly consumed and what are the advantages and drawbacks of each type of use How to cook with cannabis Recipes that work well with cannabis infusions Lists of helpful websites, references, and revealing cannabis factoids Challenges and opportunities in the cannabis world going forward If you are ready to start your cannabis journey, or understand the landscape before heading out, Cannabis Essentials: A Field Guide for the Curious will keep you secure, knowledgeable, and prepared to embrace your cannabis curiosity.

A poignantly funny account of renowned writer and humorist Neal Pollack's years as a marijuana addict. Beginning innocently enough in his 20s, Neal Pollack discovers that pot makes everything—food, music, sex—better. Getting married, having a kid, and enjoying professional success do nothing to dampen Pollack's enthusiasm for getting high. As cannabis grows stronger and more widely available, the expansion and acceptance of marijuana Big Business shadows Pollack's dependence. By 2014, Neal is a correspondent for a national marijuana newspaper, mostly because it means free pot. Diving into the wild, wicked world of weed with both lungs, Pollack proceeds to smoke, vape, and eat his way to oblivion, leading to public meltdowns and other embarrassing behavior. After his mother dies in 2017, he spirals out of control, finally hitting bottom during a reckless two-day gambling and drug-filled binge, culminating in a public crack-up at the World Series in Dodger Stadium. Three weeks later, he quits. After joining a twelve-step program, Neal outs himself as a marijuana addict in a 2018 New York Times op-ed piece, leading to his decision to document his experience as a cautionary tale for the millions of recreational users in the hazy age of legalized weed.

From “Reefer Madness” to legal purchase at the corner store With long-time legal and social barriers to marijuana falling across much of the United States, the time has come for an accessible and informative look at attitudes toward the dried byproduct of Cannabis sativa. Marijuana: A Short History profiles the politics and policies concerning the five-leaf plant in the United States and around the world. Millions of Americans have used marijuana at some point in their lives, yet it remains a substance shrouded by myth, misinformation, and mystery. And nearly a century of prohibition has created an enforcement system that is racist, and the continuing effects of racially-targeted over criminalization limit economic and social opportunities in communities of color. Marijuana: A Short History tells this story, and that of states stepping up to enact change. This book offers an up-to-date, cutting-edge look at how a plant with a tumultuous history has emerged from the shadows of counterculture and illegality. Today, marijuana has become a remarkable social, economic, and even political force—with a surprising range of advocates and opponents. Over the past two decades marijuana policy has transformed dramatically in the United States, as dozens of states have openly defied the federal government. Marijuana: A Short History provides a brief yet compelling narrative that discusses the social and cultural history of marijuana but also tells us how a once-vilified plant has been transformed into a serious, even mainstream, public policy issue. Focusing on politics, the media, government, racism, criminal justice, and education, the book describes why public policy has changed, and what that change might mean for marijuana's future place in society.

How earnest hippies, frightened parents, suffering patients, and other ordinary Americans went to war over marijuana In the last five years, eight states have legalized recreational marijuana. To many, continued progress seems certain. But pot was on a similar trajectory forty years ago, only to encounter a fierce backlash. In Grass Roots, historian Emily Dufton tells the remarkable story of marijuana's crooked path from acceptance to demonization and back again, and of the thousands of grassroots activists who made changing marijuana laws their life's work. During the 1970s, pro-pot campaigners with roots in the counterculture secured the drug's decriminalization in a dozen states. Soon, though, concerned parents began to mobilize; finding a champion in Nancy Reagan, they transformed pot into a national scourge and helped to pave the way for an aggressive war on drugs. Chastened marijuana advocates retooled their message, promoting pot as a medical necessity and eventually declaring legalization a matter of racial justice. For the moment, these activists are succeeding -- but marijuana's history suggests how swiftly another counterrevolution could unfold.